Win98SE and HD question????

[spmiz]

Hey gang I could use some help with this one...... As you can guess I presently am running WIN98SE and have 2 seperate harddrives (one 30GB and One 40GB). On my main drive I set-up 3 partitions:
a.) Operating system-- 5 GB
b.) Program Files-- 20.5 GB
c.) Data Drive-- 5 GB

Then second drive is for data/ upload/ download files
a.) first partition-- 16GB
b.) second partition-- 24 GB.

My question is this, I just bought a WD 100GB HD (for 69.99, by the way) and want to replace my primary drive. Hence, I know I will lose all my program files and etc. But I came up with a few questions before I screw up:

1.) Is there a program that I use to relocate program files for stuuff I lost the disks for?? Will norton ghost work????
2.) When I set-up partitions on this soon to be primary drive then how does that effect the secondary drive???? I assume that this drive will still be intact, correct???
3.) I will be upgrading to WINXP Pro probably in June, so any advice on how to setup now to avoid headaches later????
4.) Where do I send the money for the expert advice??? JUST KIDDING...I was just trying to see if everyone read this far down.....

Thanks as usual for the great help!!!!!!!!!!!

[bailey]

why not keep all 3 drives in there

[Force Flow]

Originally posted by spmiz 1.) Is there a program that I use to relocate program files for stuuff I lost the disks for?? Will norton ghost work????

I would suggest PartitionMagic. Ghost just makes an image of the drive.

3.) I will be upgrading to WINXP Pro probably in June, so any advice on how to setup now to avoid headaches later????

To avoid headaches, I would suggest a fresh install of XP, if you do choose to install it.

4.) Where do I send the money for the expert advice??? JUST KIDDING...I was just trying to see if everyone read this far down.....

Oh, that's easy! You can send it to... Darn. You're only kidding.

As bailey said, why not keep all 3 drives? Your IDE controllers are able to use 4 devices. (2 on IDE1 and 2 on IDE2). Or, you could get a PCI IDE controller card if they all won't fit.

[edit]: Actually, I think the easiest way to go would just to tack on the new drive and FDISK it as a logical drive (extended partiton). If you make it a primary drive, it will go in between the first and second partitions you presently have.

[spmiz]

First of all I don't have room unless I use a 5.25 bay, also I just replaced my MB/CPU/RAM and had alittle bit of a bitch so I thought it might make my system purr from fresh.....

What were you thinking..... I am interested to know..........

[reboot]

Ghost is ideal for completely copying your old drive to the new one. If you choose to go that route, it will clone the drive completely, and takes only a few minutes.
If you just want to copy data, then use Explorer, and drag/drop what you want. You don't have to lose all your programs and data with Ghost.
Any partitions you set up (during the operating system install) will not affect the second drive in any way.
Any partitions you set up using fdisk, will not affect the other drive, however, the drive letters may be reassigned differently.
Keep one partition empty, about 10 gig or so.
Install XP on that partition, and you'll have dual boot. Nice to have until you're completely familiar with XP enough to get rid of 98.

[Captn]

I prefer this Company http://www.acronis.com/ They have alot of good software You can use there True Image 6.0, MigrateEasy 6.0 & PartitionExpert 2003